Contents

Summary

Teaser

The Enterprise is traveling through space in a region of space hundreds of light years further than any Earthstarship has explored. A great, ineffable intelligence has activated her distress signal relays, giving her strong readings yet remaining invisible to her sensors. The crew arrive at a destroyed Class M planet - much older than Earth, Spock determines, and long dead, its atmosphere ripped away by some cataclysmic event about half a million years ago. A male voice suddenly speaks, referring to the ship's crew as his "children" and asking them to come into orbit. He admits the unpromising state of his planet, and says strangely that he too is dead – and death will be the fate of mankind too, should they choose not to visit.

Enterprise in orbit of Sargon's destroyed homeworld

Act One

In his captain's log (Stardate 4768.3 - see below), CaptainKirk states his intention to risk contact; Uhura tells him the entry will not reach Starfleet for three weeks. Spock's science stationprobes touch the mysterious planetary speaker, named Sargon, who feeds him the transporter coordinates to a chamber more than a hundred miles beneath the surface. In that deep vastness Spock detects a serviceable atmosphere and presumes that a landing party should fare well enough. Kirk plans to leave him in command, saying that with this many unknowns "we can't risk both of us being off of the ship." But Sargon makes his preferences plain by cutting the ship's power until Spock is added to the guest list.

In the transporter room, Dr. McCoy, crewmen Lemli and Leslie, and Lt. Commander Mulhall have reported for beam-down. Mulhall, an astrobiologist seconded to the operations division, is unknown to Kirk; it turns out that her orders to join the landing party came from Sargon himself. McCoy is apoplectic when he hears Spock's revised approximation of the thickness of solid rock through which the party is to be transported: 112.37 miles. When the party leaves the ship, the two crewmen's transporter pads fail to energize – another of Sargon's surprises.

Underground, in a sort of holding area, Spock finds that the walls date from the time of the cataclysm, and are made from the strongest, hardest material he has ever come across. Mulhall finds the atmosphere only slightly different from that aboard ship.

A chamber opens and the unguarded party enter to discover Sargon – energy without substance, matter without form – housed in a glowing spheroid shell. He gives his guests a little history lesson: 6,000 centuries ago, the humanoids of this planet were spacefarers. They colonized throughout the galaxy. Sargon speculates that a Human creation myth were perhaps two of Sargon's race. Mulhall objects to this idea, but Spock picks up on it, saying it might explain some elements of Vulcan pre-history.

But 1,000 centuries after the colonial heyday came the ultimate conflict. Possessed of minds "infinitely greater" than the landing party's, having goals beyond their comprehension, Sargon's race fought a superwar, unleashing powers to which even nuclear war pales in comparison. And so the masters of the galaxy all but exterminated themselves, and their homeworld for half a million years has lain dead.

Calling Kirk his "son", Sargon exchanges places with him, taking the captain's body from him and storing his mute mind within the sphere. Sargon thrills to have a corporeal form again.

Act Two

Leading the party to an inner chamber, Sargon shows them ten other spheres ranged in two rows. His wife Thalassa's is the only one still aglow on the lower tier. On the upper, one glows as well – Henoch, of the ultimate conflict's "other side." These essences, too, will require hosts, namely Mulhall and Spock. McCoy complains that Sargon is "burning up" Kirk's body – his heart is beating 262 times per minute. Sargon says he and his fellows wish to hold the Human bodies only long enough to build "humanoid robots" with methods and skills "far beyond your abilities." Sargon staggers back to the main chamber and, again calling Kirk "son," vacates his body. Kirk's metabolism promptly returns to normal. He says his mind's stay in the receptacle was a "floating in time and space." But the intimate proximity to Sargon during the exchange has affected him deeply: "For an instant we were one... I know him now. I know what he is and what he wants – and I don't fear him."

Mulhall offers her body to science

In a briefing room back aboard ship, the landing party is joined by Scott, whose assistance will be necessary in the construction of "android robots." Kirk will not order their participation. With such mechanical bodies, Spock says, Sargon and company will be able to leave this planet and share their technology. The resulting advances for "mankind" would be a great leap of ten millennia. Scott is won over by the prospect of starship engines "the size of walnuts"; Mulhall says that in the interest of science she must cooperate. McCoy finds it suspicious coincidence that the bodies of both the captain and first officer are required, and worries that next to such "giants" the Human crew must seem to be "insects." Kirk compares the undertaking at hand with the first Human missions to the Moon, to Mars, to Alpha Centauri, and reminds McCoy that six generations ago surgery was done with scalpels and catgut. "Risk," he concludes, "is our business."

In the medical lab, McCoy and NurseChapel oversee the transference. Thalassa, seeing through Mulhall's eyes, at first looks for her husband in Spock, but Sargon draws her attention "here" – in Kirk's body. She approves of his choice of host, finding it similar to the body he lost in the cataclysm. Henoch is pleased with his own host: the Human-Vulcan hybrid has "strength, hearing and eyesight, all far above your Human norms." Spock's body deals better with the transference too, being "accustomed to the higher metabolism"; Henoch stays in it when the others collapse and for the second time Sargon relinquishes Kirk's body.

In the pharmacology laboratory, Henoch and Chapel make up a metabolic reduction formula which, administered at 10 cc/hr, should allow the three Cataclysm survivors to function in their host bodies. Chapel notices that Sargon's formula has been doctored and fears for her captain. Henoch confirms that he intends that Kirk die – so as to finish Sargon. He then establishes mind control over Chapel, touching his middle finger to her forehead.

Act Three

McCoy makes an entry in his medical log (4769.1 - see below): Sargon is now in his third possession of Kirk's body, Thalassa is back in Mulhall's, and Henoch continues to possess Spock's.

In a workshop, Sargon and Thalassa are beginning the assembly of their new android bodies. They reminisce, but the lost scenes of their beloved homeworld turn to a cruel reminder of the insensate future that awaits them. Henoch enters and enjoys the plight of his sorely tempted but morally rigorous opponents. He for one has no intention of relinquishing his host body. Sargon feels the damage he is wreaking on Kirk's inadequately suppressed metabolism, but does not want to worry his wife and soldiers on.

In the medical lab, Chapel conveys Henoch's bogus metabolic readings to McCoy. Mistaking her evident stress for fatigue, he offers to administer the last few doses of formula to the visitors. Alarmed, Chapel insists she will be up to the task.

In the shop, Scott cannot see how the technology of the ancient colonizers is going to work in the android bodies, which must "need micro-gears and some sort of pulley that does what a muscle does." A happy Henoch/Spock appears in the doorway and corrects him: comprehend its workings though Scott may not, the android form will surpass his Human strength and agility by 100%. To Thalassa, though, Henoch's upbeat manner rings hollow: the android form will house her for a thousand years – is that not what a prison does? She feels a tremor of revolt against the impending surrender of her humanoid existence. Might a Human body not after all be her due, given all the good she proposes to bring to "mankind"?

In the Deck 6 briefing room, Sargon realizes he can no longer ignore the danger to Kirk's body and calls McCoy. Thalassa arrives first and runs the idea of sacrificing Mulhall past her husband. Seeing that the wrongness of the proposition has escaped her, Sargon points out the practical difficulties – it will take months, if not years, for the host bodies to grow accustomed to the presence of their essences. She knows that he, too, longs to resume their physical intimacy – the "intertwining" of senses – and kisses him, asking "can robot lips do this?" Fighting temptation as well as Henoch's vapid medicine, he collapses. McCoy and Chapel arrive to find Sargon/Kirk "dead."

Act Four

Kirk's vital organs are in good hands, but his mind is trapped in a sphere on the bedside table

McCoy makes an entry in the medical log (4770.3 – see below). He is sure that Sargon has died, forced to flee the Captain's collapsed body, and too far from the receptacle to bring about the exchange of essences. Despite its inhospitality, the vacant body has been brought around in sickbay, its "vital organs now working," as the nurse says.

We can tweak the gender characteristics after you get it up and running, Thalassa

In the shop, Henoch works on a male-shaped android body. Thalassa wonders why he bothers, since he doesn't plan to return his present body to Spock. He stokes her revulsion, saying the android form is for her – she can occupy it before it has its female features installed.

In the medical lab, Thalassa proposes a back room deal with McCoy: she is able to move Kirk's mind back into the functioning body, but she requires that the doctor connive at her keeping that of Mulhall, "whom you hardly know – almost a stranger to you!" Even for such a return, McCoy cannot leave Mulhall to die. Thalassa threatens him, "we can take what we wish... I could destroy you with a single thought!" But her godlike posturing disgusts her, and she realizes that physical existence is seductive and corrupting for her kind. Relieved to witness her integrity, Sargon now speaks: he has been sheltering unsuspected in the very fabric of the vessel. Chapel arrives summoned. Thalassa asks McCoy to leave them – "Sargon has a plan."

In his study, McCoy is alarmed by a series of explosions from the lab. Unable to enter, he is calling for aid when Chapel exits – with something plainly on her mind.

Back in the lab, Kirk and Mulhall have regained their bodies. The three receptacles are burnt out. And Spock's mind? Kirk says the loss was "necessary." The urgent task is to terminate Spock's physical form and so put an end to Henoch. Kirk orders McCoy to prepare a hypo fatal to Vulcans.

On the bridge, Henoch terrorizes Uhura and warns Sulu. Chapel stands beside Henoch. McCoy arrives with Kirk and Mulhall, whom Henoch stops short by forcing pain upon them. Chapel takes McCoy's hypo. Its contents are known to Henoch from reading McCoy's mind. He orders Chapel to inject McCoy – but suddenly, she injects him/Spock instead. At first he belittles their attempt, but when he senses the undead and powerful Sargon his instinct is to beg. Spock's body collapses, Henoch flees but with no host, android nor receptacle at hand he is destroyed. Chapel swoons, Spock stands. She explains that she had been carrying (and sharing) Spock's essence (or Katra), which behind Henoch's back Sargon had "placed in me." And the hypo, potent enough to "kill ten Vulcans"? A necessary illusion, says Sargon. He borrows Kirk's body for a fourth and last time, in order to hold his wife as a living woman before the couple consign themselves to oblivion "forever." Their final kiss, says Chapel with a teary, fond look at Spock, was "beautiful."

Log entries

"Captain's log, stardate 4768.3. The Enterprise is in orbit above a planet whose surface, our sensors tell us, is devoid of all life, a world destroyed and dead for at least a half million years. Yet from it comes a voice, the energy of pure thought, telling us something has survived here for those thousands of centuries. Since exploration and contact with alien intelligences is our primary mission, I've decided to risk the potential dangers and resume contact. Log entry out."

"Enterprise medical log, stardate 4769.1. Three alien minds now inhabit the bodies of Captain Kirk, Science Officer Spock, and Dr. Ann Mulhall. As planned, the construction of android robots is underway. All is proceeding as expected ... and as promised. I can find no reason for concern, but yet I am filled with foreboding."

"Medical log, Stardate 4770.3. Do I list one death or two? When Kirk's body died, Sargon was too far distant from his receptacle to transfer back. Sargon is dead. But is Captain Kirk dead? His body is, but his consciousness is still in the receptacle into which it was transferred earlier."

Memorable Quotes

"One day our minds became so powerful, we dared think of ourselves as gods."

Story and production

Writer John T. Dugan wrote the original script of this episode after he had read an article about highly sophisticated robots. In his original draft, Sargon and Thalassa continue their existence as spirits without bodies, floating around the universe. However, Gene Roddenberry, who did an uncredited re-write on the script, changed the ending to the aliens fading out into oblivion. This led to Dugan using his pen name John Kingsbridge in the episode's credits.[1](The Star Trek Compendium)

The names of the Arret survivors have some cultural connections to Earth. In Greek mythology, Thalassa was a sea goddess. Some Assyrian and Mesopotamiankings were named Sargon. In the Bible, the name Henoch appears several times (sometimes spelled "Enoch" or "Hanoch"), including as the father of Methuselah.

The name of the planet itself, Arret, is never mentioned onscreen, much as Neural, the site of A Private Little War, is also unspoken.

The preview of this episode features a different take of the scene just before Thalassa zaps McCoy. In the preview, Muldaur says, "I could destroy you with one thought!" In the completed episode, she says, "I could destroy you with a single thought!"

This episode is the latest in any season to feature a completely new score, this one by George Duning. Parts of the new score will be heard until "The Ultimate Computer". The menacing Henoch cues were re-used extensively in "Patterns of Force" and "The Omega Glory".

Still photos of a smiling Spock leaning against a doorway and a non-canonical image of William Blackburn, dressed as the android were used in the end credits of "The Immunity Syndrome". That episode was produced before this one, but did not go to air until 19 January1968.

Blackburn told about his experiences filming this episode. Because of his latex android make-up, he could not eat or drink properly during the 12-hour shooting day and had to consume nourishment through a straw. The white, blank eyes of the android were achieved with him simply moving and holding his eyeballs upwards. (TOS-R Season 2 DVD Special Features)

In clips from the second season blooper reel, Blackburn peels off his latex coating with glee and is assisted by someone (presumably make-up artist Fred Phillips) who says, "Well, son, you wanted show business. Goddammit, you got it!" In another segment, William Shatner grabs one of the globes and proclaims, "Have no fear. Sargon is here." And in another clip, Shatner jumps a line with DeForest Kelley in sickbay by saying, "I'm fine, Bones." Kelley responds, "Are you all right?" They both crack up laughing. In the next take, they can't even begin to speak before they dissolve into helpless giggles.

A still image taken from the blooper above, of Blackburn removing the latex android make-up from his head appears in the end credits of "By Any Other Name". That episode was produced the week before this one and aired two weeks later, on 23 February1968.

Cast and characters

This episode marks George Takei's return to the series after an absence of some months while filming The Green Berets. His last appearance was "I, Mudd", which was ten episodes earlier in production order.

Continuity

It is unclear how Sargon's species might have inspired the Adam and Eve story on Earth, especially since they ended their galactic colonization before their civil war. Their colonizing period, which occurred 600,000 years ago, is the earliest estimate for the appearance of Homo heidelbergensis, an early ancestor Humans share with the Neanderthals.

This is the second time a reference is made in Star Trek about the Apollo moon program, after "Tomorrow is Yesterday". Filmed more than a year-and-a-half before the first lunar landing, Kirk rhetorically asks McCoy in this episode, "Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the Moon?" The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 1 (intended to be a test-flight of the Command and Service Module in Earth orbit only), never flew, since a tragic fire claimed the lives of three astronauts. This happened on 27 January 1967, months before the script was submitted to the production team and a full year before this episode aired. The first Apollo mission in which astronauts orbited – and technically "reached" – the moon was Apollo 8 in December 1968, ten months after this episode aired. However, the Apollo 11 astronauts were the first to "reach" the moon by landing on it in 20 July 1969, after Star Trek was canceled. Kirk's next comments about going "on to Mars and then to the nearest star" seem to suggest that he is referring to the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

Remastered information

The remastered version of this episode aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 7 July2007. It featured new effects shots of the Enterprise and a new, more realistic version of Sargon's homeworld. It also included shots of the planet matted into interior viewscreen shots. [4]

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